Church, writers pay tribute to Prince for his music and his faith

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A United Methodist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma paid a tribute to Prince yesterday by posting a portion of his lyrics on its outdoor message board.

University United Methodist Church pays tribute to Prince, the rock superstar who died April 21, 2016. The Tulsa church posted this picture on its Facebook page within hours of the singer’s death, and it promptly went viral online. Photo courtesy of University United Methodist Church.

A photograph of the sign, along with the message "Punch a Higher Floor, brother," another reference to his lyrics, was then posted on the church's Facebook page.

The Rev. Nathan Mattox, pastor of University United Methodist Church in Tulsa, said posting the message was therapeutic, helping him deal with the loss of a figure from his youth.

Prince has "always been one of my favorites," he said in an interview with the Tulsa World. "I used to be a DJ in college, and I don't think I ever let a party go by without dropping 'Kiss' or something, at least."

Overnight, the church's Facebook post reached "viral" status by collecting more than 8,400 likes and more than 12,000 shares, including BuzzFeed and various Twitter accounts.

In a related column by Kimberly Winston on the Religion News Service website, she wrote that while Prince's life and career were often shrouded in mystery, he was clearly a man of faith.

He grew up a Seventh-day Adventist and became a Jehovah's Witness as an adult, even proselytizing door-to-door for the Witnesses in his hometown of Minneapolis.

In the 2013 book I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon by Touré, Prince's guitarist Dez Dickerson described Prince as a “guy who really is thoughtful and introspective and holds religious considerations close to his heart and ponders those questions sincerely and genuinely and deeply.”